A point of frustration as we bid adieu to the Airbus A380 on Singapore Airlines’ flagship JFK-FRA-SIN route. Is Singapore so stingy or just so successful that it simply will not release first class award space on this route? It’s quite an enigma.
Singapore Airlines A380 Pulled From JFK Route
When Singapore Airlines swapped a 777 for an A380 on SQ24/25 during the pandemic, it was very generous in releasing a glut of saver award space between Frankfurt and New York. But since that initial release, the wells have run totally dry. In fact, they are so dry there is not a single pair of “Advantage” award seats (we are not even talking about saver awards…) on a single day through the end of the schedule upon last check.
You can certainly waitlist on a many days, but waitlists on KrisFlyer awards no longer clear as reliably as in the past and it’s quite a gamble to stake out a trip around the world on a waitlist clearing.
I’m genuinely sorry to see the A380 go, because it has not only been on my bucket list, but has been perched at the very top of my bucket list ever since I flew Air France First Class a few years back. Many years ago I flew in Singapore Suites on the A380, but onboard the old 12-seat configuration and only a (relatively) short flight from Singapore to Melbourne.
Ironically, New York’s loss is Melbourne’s gain, as the the A380 pulled from the New York route as of May 15, 2023 will be placed on the Singapore – Melbourne route.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not entitled to any award space. I’m not demanding any. But I am a bit perplexed that Singapore seems to be selling $15K+ fares and filling up cabins and yet somehow is going to reduce the size of the first class cabin by 1/3 and swap in a frankly far inferior product on one of its flagship routes?
Our loss is Melbourne’s gain. Perhaps Singapore feels it can fly the round-trip to Melbourne in the time it flies the one-way to New York and that will net more money?
CONCLUSION
Singapore Airlines is dropping the A380 on its New York (JFK) – Frankfurt (FRA) – Singapore (SIN) service starting on May 15, 2023 for a 777. With flights sold out on many dates and no award space available at all (and I’ve been looking for months…), I guess I am curious how much money Singapore is expecting on its Melbourne service.
Too bad Singapore cannot acquire some used A380s and start building up its A380 fleet…
image: Thilo Darmstadt / Wikimedia Commons
Only an American could believe FRA-JFK is a flagship route for SG. And JFK is a world class airport?
True that. JFK-FRA-SIN is not a flagship route for Singapore Airlines, though it has operated since the 1990s with various aircraft, starting with the 747-400, then transitioned to A380, then to 77W during the pandemic and back to the A380 until now. The terminal SIA operates from is a gargantuan mess. JFK is an iconic airport, yes. World class? Hardly.
A flagship route has nothing to do with the airport facilities…no one is heralding the hot mess that is known as JFK.
JFK is a critically important airport in the global scheme of things but I’d argue that it hasn’t been world class since the days of Pan Am Worldport.
My thoughts are that this refers more to the importance of JFK as the gateway to the world’s most important financial market. Less about the facilities, though JFK has vastly improved over the past few years. This should be considered a route as important as LHR-SIN. One could argue that LHR and JFK should be held as the two most significant profile and premium routes for SQ and treated accordingly with their flagship aircraft.
With that said, the issue from an economic standpoint is that the needed stopover in FRA was a drain on premium flyers. The non stop from NYC eats away much of the market for those who don’t want a three hour stopover in FRA where you have to deplane. As well, the FRA-JFK segment was seldom full in premium cabins and I could often find bargains in one way J (a hidden sweet spot last minute) for around $2K to FRA. That’s because half the seats would go empty otherwise. I’ve also flown it a few times the entire route and I never saw it full in J or F on either segment…once I was the only person in F other than a non rev pilot. And that was on both segments. The 777 is probably more sustainable given these factors, even if less flashy on what should be the second most important market served after LHR for SQ.
Certainly agree that I was not trying to argue that JFK facilities are what make it flagship. We can all agree that is not the case.
Agree! Why would anyone want to take a 1-stop flight from JFK to Singapore via Frankfurt with a travel time ~21.5 hours, when they can fly nonstop in 18.5 hours?
Ditto for the reverse, from Singapore to JFK via Frankfurt, but with an even worse travel time of ~24.5 hours (and forced deplaning in FRA) versus ~18 on the nonstop?
Speaking of the SIN-JFK nonstop, my partner and I flew it in Premium Economy 11 days ago (Saturday, Nov 12) and we counted ~10 open seats in the back/last cabin for an ~89.4% load factor (84/94=0.8936) while our peeks through the curtain inflight and observation of the debris left behind in the sleeping pods while deplaning suggests that the business class cabin had a similarly good load factor, too.
After spending more than 29 hours total travel time to reach Singapore from JFK via Tokyo/Haneda for our All Nippon Airways (ANA) flights (also in Premium Economy, which mercifully included access to ANA’s very nice lounge at Haneda for our layover and at British Airways’ lounge at JFK T7 before our first flight), we both agree that despite lacking lounge access with the fare paid (we don’t travel enough to warrant paid lounges or the most costly credit cards that includes lounge access) and a larger, denser cabin (with less comfortable seating than we had on ANA’s low density 77W and an ancient 787-8), Singapore Airlines’ nonstop is still preferable to longer itineraries that require stops along the way – and obviously all the more so for those in Business Class with the comfy lie flat seats featuring Singapore Airlines’ exceptional service.
So, in that regard, it does seem logical to redeploy the Airbus A380 elsewhere, especially if they key reason for continuing to operate a 1-stop flight via Frankfurt along with nonstops to both JFK and nearby Newark airports is for belly cargo capacity, which the Boeing 777-300ER is more than capable of handling – and may even be better suited for.
Booked last May on Singapore to JFK for my April birthday, had to shell out 237,000 miles for the AAdvantage rate. Guess I’ll be one of the last lucky few to fly this A380 route w/ miles!
If only there were any A380’s that were available for sale somewhere in the world, Singapore might buy a few and solve the A380 shortage.
SQ is not the only A380 operator at JFK. EK and KE both fly A380s into JFK. Daily. Not quite sure what “enigma” will disappear at JFK once SQ stops flying it there.
I meant the Singapore Airlines A380, not the A380 itself.
.. we are all referring to SQ’s A-380 first class suites, if SQ acquired more A-380s without these suites we won‘t have this discussions/crazy rich Asians
There’s a big discrepancy in the way SQ treats its Solitaire/PPS members vs. ordinary elites/non-elites. And that partly explains why most of us don’t have much access to Saver awards on premium cabins, bulkhead seats, etc. Try taking a flight with a Solitaire member — the fawning is a bit disgusting actually
I’ve always wanted to do the via Frankfurt route on first on Singapore. I’ve also only flown the suites on the Singapore to Australia route.
I flew this route once , first 380 flight, takes hrs to get on off the plane … the plane broke down on the way back at frnakfurt flew in the part from France… Fra staff was the friendliest Germans I ever met … served us some good food kept us informed at every step but they were cursing the 380 for its less than steller reliability … and BTW the last row window seat does not have a window lol really sia … I asked to de plane me …
Yeah, I couldn’t help but chuckle reading this article. While SIA has maintained a presence at JFK for many years, it most certainly isn’t their flagship route, nor their most profitable. Look at their market share in Australia and their profits on major European routes like LHR (which was their most profitable pre-pandemic) and the likes. It’s clear they were and will continue to focus on capturing Europe-Australia traffic – so it’s more than reasonable and expected they pulled their A380s with their best products from JFK-FRA.